E-commerce as a Vehicle Towards Sustainable National Development in Nigeria

Prospects and Challenges

Authors

Muqsitat Motunrayo Ojedokun
University of Ibadan

Keywords:

E-commerce, Sustainable national development, ICT, Nigeria

Abstract

The emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has created a lot of opportunities for its end users, globally. However, despite the recognized embedded benefits of e-commerce, its utilization for sustainable national development in Nigeria is still largely low. On this basis, this paper discusses the prospect of e-commerce as a vehicle towards sustainable national development in Nigeria, and the challenges militating against its adequate adoption. The Diffusion of Innovation Theory was employed as conceptual framework. The paper argues that e-commerce can contribute in multiple ways to the actualization of the Nigeria’s drive towards the attainment of sustainable national development through the improvement of the Nigerian banking sector, the promotion of indigenous entrepreneurship, increase in foreign exchange, and the development of small and medium scale businesses. However, despite its embedded advantages, digital divide, illiteracy, skepticism/distrust, fear of cybercrime exposure and poor access to relevant information are among the major challenges militating against the successful adoption of electronic commerce in Nigeria. The Nigerian Government should exert more efforts towards effective domestication of E-commerce because it is capable of contributing significantly to the successful actualization of the nation’s vision 2020 plan and the attainment of its sustainable development goals.

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Author Biography

Muqsitat Motunrayo Ojedokun, University of Ibadan

African Regional Centre for Information Science. University of Ibadan, Nigeria.